By historic chance, this first full meeting of the C.R.U.A. took place the day that the fall of Dien Bien Phu was announced. The impact on the Algerians, many of whose kinsmen had been fighting alongside the French in the besieged camp, was electric. Employing subtlest techniques of psychological warfare, the Viet-Minh suggestively quizzed the Algerians captured there: "Since you are such good soldiers, why do you fight for the colonialists? Why don't you fight for yourselves and get yourselves a country of your own?" Suddenly this unbelievable defeat deprived the glorious French army of its baraka, making it look curiously mortal for the first time. Wild rumours exaggerating the defeat began immediately to take root at home in Algeria, greatly facilitating the C.R.U.A.'s work of recruitment

XREF: Contrasts with limited-revolt strategies common in other decolonization movements that aimed to negotiate concessions rather than total sovereignty.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 241